# Are you right-handed, left-handed or ambidextrous? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 12, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379 "2011-03-12T05:23:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![seanchai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@seanchai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seanchai)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/21 "2011-03-13T00:46:36Z")
Both parents right handed. Both children right-handed. Late mate left handed, forced in school to write right handed, dammit. #1 child left handed; #2 child right handed. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/22 "2011-03-13T01:05:25Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Just to be awkward - I’m somewhere between 2 and 4. I’m _mostly_ left-handed, with some _recent_ ambidextrous tendencies (most common of which is mousing with my right hand at work) > > My Mum tells me I was completely ambidextrous as a child (I mean beyond the point where it is common for a child to be ambidextrous) I don’t think doing a handful of things with your other hand, especially if you’re left-handed and have been forced to learn how to in order to use certain tools at all, indicates ambidextrousness. I use a mouse with my right hand, the can opener, and I bowl with my right hand, but that doesn’t make me ambidextrous. But yeah, you sound like you were…as a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/23 "2011-03-13T01:10:08Z")
I write right handed and can only use my mouse right handed, but everything else is left. I can’t understand how people can be a right handed batter or use golf clubs right handed. It doens’t work at all for me. Yet I can’t even use my left hand to even reasonably control my mouse. When I lift weights I also favor my left hand. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/24 "2011-03-13T01:32:19Z")
I went with “amibextrous with right-handed tendency”, but another phrase that I prefer is “cross-dominant”, which is a phrase that came up in an earlier thread on this topic. I do most things with my right hand, but there are several things I can do with my left if I want, or which just feel more natural. I can’t do that “shoot pool behind my back” thing for awkward shots. It’s a lot easier to just shift hands. If I want to, I can play an entire game lefty, except for awkward shots, where I shoot right. I deal cards lefty, and mouse lefty, but generally can’t write lefty. But then, just the other day, the Piper Cub and I were doing some drawing and I did a drawing of a bird for him - realised afterwards that I’d done it with my left hand without even thinking of it. It’s very handy when I’m doing some manual labour, like using a screwdriver in awkward spots - I can just switch to whichever is the most comfortable. On the other hand, it causes confusion sometimes - I sometimes have to think hard about which hand to use, and I find it confusing when someone says “right” or “left” for directions - it’s not automatic to me what those directions mean, and I have to consciously think about it - which can be a problem when I’m driving and someone’s giving directions in a busy traffic situation. Mrs Piper now appreciates that, and says “Your side” or “my side” when she’s the navigator and I’m driving. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/25 "2011-03-13T02:39:36Z")
Ambidextrous with (fairly strong) right-handed tendency. My left eye is my dominant eye, which I discovered when I learned archery in high school. I shoot a bow (and fire a rifle) left-handed due to this, and can switch-hit in baseball and softball. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/26 "2011-03-13T02:54:43Z")
> [@chizzuk](#): > > I put right-handed, which is how I write and throw, but I generally eat with the fork in my left hand and my writing with that hand is OK. You saved me a lot of typing. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/27 "2011-03-13T03:06:19Z")
I am definitely right-handed, but I’m not as incompetent with my left as some righties. And there are some situations where I don’t really have a preference- picking things up, shaking hands, stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/28 "2011-03-13T11:13:26Z")
Although I can do many things with both hands, I am primarily right handed. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/29 "2011-03-13T21:53:39Z")
Definitely left-hand dominant. I’m right-eyed for some reason, which makes it harder to shoot archery and guns since I aim left-handed. It definitely runs in my family though. My mother and a brother, my son (and his mother) and I’m sure some other relatives I can’t think of offhand are all left-handed. I do use the mouse right-handed, but I found it was easier to write and use the computer at once that way so I stuck with it. ---
**Author:** ![Pann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a4c791/32.png) [@Pann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pann)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/30 "2011-03-14T15:32:53Z")
This thread caught my attention because I am perhaps unique. I have never heard of anyone else that is right-handed when sitting down and left-handed when standing up. Writing on a piece of paper while sitting at a desk is done right handed. Writing on a chalkboard while standing is done left handed. I can’t write left handed while sitting, nor can i write right handed while standing. ---
**Author:** ![Lorski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Lorski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorski)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/31 "2011-03-14T17:04:52Z")
I can only write with my left hand, but I do a lot of things with my right. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/32 "2011-03-14T18:58:52Z")
> [@Pann](#): > > This thread caught my attention because I am perhaps unique. I have never heard of anyone else that is right-handed when sitting down and left-handed when standing up. > > Writing on a piece of paper while sitting at a desk is done right handed. Writing on a chalkboard while standing is done left handed. I can’t write left handed while sitting, nor can i write right handed while standing. I know of only one person even similar to that: my sister. Writes with her right sitting down, but standing up at a board she writes with her left. She is primarily right-handed. I, on the other hand am almost exclusively a lefty (largest minority in the world!). Exceptions: I catch right because it was easier than trying to get the glove off in time to catch with my left hand. Scissors right because there was no such thing as left-handed scissors as a kid. I can never remember what makes a southpaw in golf and baseball. I hold the bat with my left hand below my right over the plate. I use the same position on those blue-moon occasions where I find myself with a golf club, only it’s pointed down, not up. One of you guys will have to tell me which is which or if they’re the same. I have no idea. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/33 "2011-03-14T19:01:01Z")
Right-handed and, when I spent 74 days with a cast on my left arm, I was extremely grateful. I had just settled into my emergency waiting room when a nurse yelled down the hall “Are you right or left handed?” I was never so pleased to tell someone RIGHT! ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/34 "2011-03-14T19:06:55Z")
I use eating utensils and write with my left hand. Play baseball and golf righty. [slight hijack] My mother, who went to Catholic school when she was younger, has told me stories that if the nuns found that anyone was left handed in their class, they’d bind their left hand to their side, essentially forcing them to develop right-handedness. Something about Jesus being seated at the right hand of The Father or something. Anyone know if there’s any truth to this? ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/35 "2011-03-14T19:14:27Z")
> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > I use eating utensils and write with my left hand. Play baseball and golf righty. > > [slight hijack] > > My mother, who went to Catholic school when she was younger, has told me stories that if the nuns found that anyone was left handed in their class, they’d bind their left hand to their side, essentially forcing them to develop right-handedness. Something about Jesus being seated at the right hand of The Father or something. Anyone know if there’s any truth to this? I can remember my father telling me that the nuns would whack his hand with a ruler any time they caught him writing with his left hand. One more reason among many he had little love for his birth faith. AFAIK, since sinister is latin for left, they decided it would be better that the faithful not write with their left hands. Inviting trouble, I guess… :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/36 "2011-03-15T09:46:46Z")
Although I am becoming more ambi as time goes on. Breaking my right arm helped set me on that path. I think being ambidextrous is a desirable and achievable goal, at least by degree. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/37 "2011-03-15T23:35:00Z")
Thoroughly right-handed. You know, of course, that the word “sinister” comes from the Latin for “left”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/38 "2011-03-16T00:42:52Z")
Definitely right handed. Although I can do anything except write with my left hand, just not as well. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/39 "2011-03-16T01:05:25Z")
[QUOTE=I Love Me, Vol. I] Just stopping by to say thank you! You’ve given me one more item to add to my generic Boastful-Doper, all-purpose, “I am super-duper extraordinary”, no explanation given (or needed), post: 193 11.75" ambidextrous [/QUOTE] > [@elfkin477](#): > > Wow, you weigh a lot for someone that short. ;):p;) I should have maybe presented the first item like this: 193 = 99.99999% :p;)😛 I make posts like this one in any thread that asks: How (smart/rich/good-in-bed/strong/fast/talented/well-endowed/incredible are you? It’s amusing to see people try to out-brag each other on an anonymous message board where no one will ever verify what you claim. I saw this thread and supposed that we might have a whole bunch of ambidextrous Dopers all of a sudden–I haven’t read all of the thread yet–so I don’t know if that is “true”. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2011, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379/40 "2011-03-16T01:18:09Z")
> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > My mother, who went to Catholic school when she was younger, has told me stories that if the nuns found that anyone was left handed in their class, they’d bind their left hand to their side, essentially forcing them to develop right-handedness. Something about Jesus being seated at the right hand of The Father or something. Anyone know if there’s any truth to this? My husband, who is decidedly not Catholic, says he was forced to use his right hand in primary school, even though he’s naturally left-handed. I’d guess it was more a situation of the times than of the religion. Me, I’m a righty, and there are very few things I do with my left hand, although I think my left arm is still the stronger one, from several years of carrying babies and toddlers on that one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-right-handed-left-handed-or-ambidextrous/574379.md?page=3)